Just 5% of the UK’s small businesses are minority ethnic-led

Latest government survey highlights a lack of diversity in enterprise with only 21% of small firms spearheaded by women

by Megan Dunsby

Updated: May 12, 2016 Published: May 12, 2016

Only 5% of the country’s small and medium-business employers are from minority ethnic groups (MEG), according to a report published by the government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) today.

Surveying over 15,000 small and medium-sized businesses with responses weighted against business population estimates, the research also found that only 21% of UK small businesses are led by women.

What’s more, just 15% of medium-sized businesses were shown to be controlled by a woman or to have a management team of which a majority are women.

Of the MEG-led businesses, the majority of these were found to operate in the communications (11%), retail (8%), and financial and real-estate sectors (7%).

Female-led businesses were more common in the human health (54%) and education (54%) sectors.

The findings relating to women-led businesses could also alter over the coming months; a report out this week found that some 7.5 million women now dream of starting their own business or going self-employed.